Philleg

PhillieG said:

Yes
Stable...
That's good.

PhillieG said:

Yes
Stable...
That's good.

PhillieG said:

Yes
Stable...
That's good.

Annabelle41415 said:

Great
Good news.

Kim

PhillieG said:

Yes
Stable...
That's good.

PhillieG said:

Yes
Stable...
That's good.

PhillieG said:

Thank You Everyone
The scan was stable. For me, that's good. As most of you know I've been at this a while and I'm basically living with cancer. I continue to have small growths in my lungs (2-3 of them) that grow very slowly. This is still the case. My CEA is slightly elevated (2.0 to 2.5) and I'll have to see what happens with my next CEA. We're all different, but I have had a pattern of my CEA slowly rising throughout the year cumulating with a RFA in the Fall or early Winter. At least that's how the past 4+ years have played out.

Dr K offered to show me the scans this time so I accepted. I like to get a visual more than read a report. I can't even remember the last time I read a physical report, I don't fully understand all of the lingo nor do I care to. I'm more of a visual person as far as this stuff goes (plus I enjoy looking at my guts!) One spot that the report said grew actually looked slightly smaller to both Dr K and myself)

Due to an insurance screwup (which I'm not going in to, it's been resolved so it's a moot point), I took off for 1 chemo round and will pick it back up again so I'm getting a much needed short break.

As we all read about everyone's stories/adventures/journeys, we can see how we're all different. There's the option of beating Stage IV, having Stage IV beat us, and living with Stage IV. While it may get me at some point, my CBC remains perfect (as it has for 8 years - never missed a treatment due to low platelets or any other blood issue) and my CEA has never gone about 8.4. My quality of life remains good, I need to get my **** out on the lake to kayak and to take more walks. I also need to "up" the organics, the juicing, and cut out (gasp!) ice cream...

A large part of my fate, as is most of our cases, remains in my hands. There are always things out of our control (the falling space debris) that can end our time on Earth. Just because we have/had cancer it doesn't mean we'll die from it. There's plenty of other things that take people out every day so don't obsess with cancer if you can help it. Do what you need to do to stay ahead of it, if you're not doing well then maybe it's time to try something else. Try to make the best choices you can in the beginning since it's easier to maintain a good plan than to play catchup and undo what's been done needlessly or incorrectly.

Thank you all again.
~phil

on a side note:
I was cleaning out my email inbox this morning (I have over 3000 unread emails) I came across one from Jana Miller. Some of you Old Timers may remember her. She was a wonderful person who unfortunately lost her battle with cancer close to 4 years ago. She passed away at age 38 after a 6 year fight with cancer. She kept things in perspective for me. While there may be people who are doing better than we may be doing, there are always those who have no options left and are not doing well...

son of hal said:

That all sounds pretty good
That all sounds pretty good Phil,(I guess). You continue to have a great attitude and perspective from where you're at. I share much of that outlook but it's easier for me being a stage II. I give you alot of credit being a 4. Keep up the good work. It's also good to see people evolve WITH this disease and make changes to their game plans accordingly. Many people needlessly go down with a sinking ship instead of looking to slow or stop the water from coming in....
Take care CJ